US, Mexico quickly mend rift over North American trade deal

The United States and Mexico moved quickly Monday to defuse a dispute over President Donald Trump’s revamped North American trade pact.

At issue are five labor attaches the United States intends to send to Mexico to oversee the Mexican government’s labor reforms. Those plans were revealed Friday when the US published the implementing legislation for the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement – the legal text of the pact that the US Congress will vote on.

Over the weekend, Mexico’s top trade negotiator, Jesús Seade, complained that Mexico had been blindsided by the provision on the attaches.

All along, Mexican negotiators have rejected the idea that American officials could roam the country, inspecting factories to make sure Mexico was living up to commitments to let workers organize unions and bargain for higher wages and better working conditions.

Seade took to Twitter declare: “Mexico will NEVER accept them if it is in any way about disguised inspectors, for one simple reason: Mexican law prohibits it.”

It was unclear what Mexico could actually do about the attaches: Its Senate had already ratified the trade agreement. Seade said the US attaches were not mentioned in the pact the Mexicans had agreed to.

On Monday, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer wrote a letter reassuring Seade that “these personnel will not be ‘labor inspectors’ and will abide by all relevant Mexican laws.’’ (AP)